3 total
A common law spouse's claims for dependent support and a constructive trust were dismissed.
The applicant, Shirley-Anne Spencer, a common-law spouse of the deceased, brought an application seeking dependent support from the estate, a constructive trust over certain assets, and enforcement of an alleged oral agreement for equal division of all assets with the deceased's son, Jeffrey Hutchings.
The court dismissed all of the applicant's claims, finding that she had been adequately compensated as a dependent through beneficiary designations, that there was no unjust enrichment to support a constructive trust, and that no legally binding oral agreement for equal division of the estate assets was formed.
The court dismissed a railway company's motion to stay an order requiring bridge reopening.
Canadian National Railway Company moved for a stay of the Court of Appeal's June 2018 order requiring CN to reopen the James Street Bridge in Thunder Bay for vehicle traffic and maintain it in accordance with a 1906 agreement between Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Company and the Town of Fort William.
CN sought the stay pending its application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.
The motion judge declined to grant the stay, finding that CN's leave application lacked sufficient merit to warrant a stay despite CN's potential irreparable harm from financial commitments to reconstruction work.
Summary judgment granted in part
The defendant Jade Antonson brought a motion for summary judgment to dismiss a subrogated claim by the plaintiff's insurer.
The insurer alleged that a fire, which destroyed the plaintiff's building occupied by the defendants as tenants, was caused by the negligence of the co-tenant Michael Joubert.
Antonson argued that the plaintiff could not prove Joubert caused the fire or that his actions were negligent.
The plaintiff opposed the motion, asserting that key facts were in dispute, necessitating a trial.
The court dismissed the motion for summary judgment, finding that genuine issues of material fact existed regarding the fire's origin and the condition of an "ashtray" pail, which prevented a fair and just determination on the merits without a full trial.
